Each instance of giving, no matter how small, touches a poor life in Africa

Over the years, since the founding of Caring Hearts and Hands of Hope, a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit (EIN 27-3127770), to help orphans and other children from poverty-stricken families with high school tuition, I receive notes with lines such as, “I wish I could give more” or “Here is my small donation” or something similar enclosed with checks of various amounts. I try to write to the kind and generous donors who send such notes and explain to them how the amount they have given saves and transforms lives.

As I reflect on the life-changing impact of each donation, I recall a 1982 incident in which the future of a young man was bleak. I had known Joe when we were in elementary school. He was two classes behind me but a top performer, and thus he was always given awards on school closing days. I also learned that he was one of six or seven children of a single mother who worked as a bartender, a job that was looked down upon and often associated with prostitution.

Add that in Kenya — and unfortunately still today — there was no system of support for single women and children. From time to time, Joe was suspended from school due to lack of tuition. After I left for high school, I saw him only about three times in a span of six years. He joined a different high school.

But when I was in university, I met him again in our small community. I learned that Joe had performed well but couldn’t continue his education because of his family’s poverty. He was doing nothing. I asked him, “Why not apply and join a teacher training college?” He said he didn’t know where to start and how he would make himself available for the interview that was to be conducted in a town about 50 miles from our location.

I had kept in contact with our primary school headmaster, and I knew he had knowledge and influence in the education system of our district. I took the young man to him. Joe was given the application forms, which he completed. He was later invited for the interview.

Somehow I managed to raise the $1.50 Joe needed for bus fare and lunch. I returned back to school and never saw him again, although I did learn that he joined a teacher training college. Trainees were not required to pay tuition back then.

After living in the U.S. for 24 years, I returned to Kenya in 2010 and had the privilege of speaking at one of the local churches. I talked about the challenges of poor families that I witnessed in my childhood and shared the story of the young man. A man in the back of the church stood up and said he was that young man I had helped.

We cried as we hugged. Joe became a high school teacher, living comfortably with his family. His own daughter was in India pursuing a degree. I often become an emotional wreck when I reflect on the lasting impact of the $1.50 that I helped a needy student with. Imagine the lives that man has forever changed as a teacher.

You will never know the full impact of your kindness and generosity, no matter the amount. You are a living expression of God’s kindness and generosity. You are an open book of God’s love for the poor children we help and their families.

God is the master multiplier. He specializes in using the “little” we give to save and transform lives. A donation of $600 through CHHH provides tuition, books, room and board for a whole school year for a needy child. It also protects a sponsored student from being forced into hopelessness, child labor, early marriage and a life of crime. To help a needy child, please send a check to Caring Hearts and Hands of Hope Inc., P.O Box 7152, Boise, ID 83707.